Skyborn The Divine

4: Natalia

Alice watched the video again. It was a short video clip from the news, one in which a freight ship captain described an incredible rescue and the extraordinary people that saved his life.

"They were amazing," said the captain. She could see that he had one arm in a sling. She supposed he'd somehow gotten injured during all the fighting. "I saw things that I thought I'd never see again. Their strength, their speed, and...I mean, one of them even flew! It sure reminded me of the days when Divinity was out there, doing this same kind of thing. I owe them my life."

It was not the first time someone had brought up the name "Divinity" while reporting this story. In fact, the more research Alice did, the more she was starting to notice reports of superhuman rescuers occurring in the news. Events like this, a freight ship rescued by pirates, villagers pulled from mud slides, soldiers rescued from behind enemy lines, and all by an anonymous group of people who seemed to have powers far beyond mortal man.

But Alice knew this wasn't the first time this had happened. Everyone knew it. It was all starting to look a lot like when he was still alive.

Alice opened another video she'd found. It was one that had gone viral the year before she was born, one of the most prolific videos ever filmed. It had been instantly uploaded, retweeted, shared, and reposted by tens of millions of accounts across the world the moment it posted. Very few people knew the originating account for that video, or even which media platform it had come from, and those that did know were keeping it a guarded secret. Still, no one doubted it was real. It had been studied more intensely than any video file in history. Alice had read some of the articles on the web about it. Some were written by conspiracy theorists, some by investigative journalists. At times, the line between those two titles could be frustratingly thin. Still, their commentary made it clear that this might be the most important video ever posted on social media.

The first four seconds of the video fade in to and focus on the face of the most influential man of the past forty-seven years before the video's release: the superhero Divinity. His age, like his real name, was a closely guarded secret by the government, but most people agreed he was at least in his mid-seventies. It wasn't because he looked his age. In fact, the man could have passed for a graceful late fifty-year-old. His physique and his face seemed to belong to someone who just didn't quite age like the rest of humanity. Even his hair, which was faded from black to gray along the sides, was still full and healthy as any man twenty years his junior would wish it to be. However, high resolution still-frames would reveal an increasing number of creases and wrinkles forming at the man's eyes, mouth, and forehead. Some self-proclaimed experts on this superhuman hero would later claim this was an obvious sign of sudden and intense aging, as though the years this hero had somehow cheated were catching up to him in a matter of months.

Many people were surprised to see him in a simple white dress shirt with no tie, the collar unbuttoned. In all of his press photos, he'd always worn his white and gold body glove, his cape around his shoulders and his golden symbol shining on his chest. It was the first time the public had ever seen him dressed like one of them. He was seated at some kind of table or desk, the background appearing to be a handsome country home interior. More analysis of the image would highlight the reflections in the glass of a cabinet behind Divinity. The reflection appeared to be that of another man in the room, one dressed in a long, khaki coat. His face is indistinguishable. The hero did not seem to be alone when he made his video, or someone may have made it for him.

As Divinity begins to speak, a warm, fatherly smile beams on his face, framed by dimples and a square jaw. His eyes are a pale green. Some close observers will compare these images to older ones, noting that his eye color has faded over the years.